Mountaineer magic falters as team falls to Westborough

For a time late in the Friday, Oct. 26 matchup with host Westborough, it looked as though a little Mountaineer magic would save the night for the Wachusett Regional varsity football team.

But it was not to be as a failed two-point conversion attempt with 1:20 remaining allowed the previously winless Rangers to hold on and edge Wachusett, 21-20, in a nail-biter from the opening kickoff on. With the loss, the Mountaineers dropped to 5-3 on the season as they regroup to travel to face Milford on Friday, Nov. 2. Kickoff is 7 p.m.

Things opened promisingly as speedy Wachusett running back Sammy Rivera found a seam up the middle and burst nearly untouched for 55 yards to the end zone on the team’s first play from scrimmage. Trevor MacNeil banged the PAT through for an early 7-0 advantage.

MacNeil joined the wide assortment of contributing backs for head coach Mike Dubzinski by cashing in on a 4-yard run at the 6:58 mark of the second quarter to lift Wachusett to a 14-0 lead.

But perhaps the play that turned things around for Westborough came as time ran out in the opening half. Faking a field goal, the Rangers caught Wachusett off guard when Kevin Sanders found a waiting Rick Casparriello open and hit him perfectly for a 20-yard TD pass to cut the deficit to 14-7 at intermission.

Westborough came out in the second half thinking offense all the way and struck for a pair of touchdowns to shock Mountaineer players and fans by forging a 21-14 lead. The Rangers appeared to have things locked up with a late-game scoring drive but fumbled at the Wachusett one-yard line. The Mountaineers recovered in the end zone for a touchback which took the ball to the 20 with 3:27 remaining and a suddenly rejuvenated offense had the opportunity to advance the ball downfield for what could be the game equalizer.

Running backs Rivera and Scott Tupper took an emotionally charged offense downfield and it was Tupper who broke free for a ten-yard

TD run. The

Mountaineers kept it on the ground for a potentially gamewinning two-point conversion but the Ranger defense stiffened stopping the offense at the two-yard line.

Wachusett followed by taking the obvious course and delivered the onside kick which traveled through a number of players’ hands before being ruled in possession of the Rangers effectively ending the game.

“I’m not second-guessing myself,” said Dubzinski of his decision to opt for the two-point conversion attempt instead of a game-tying PAT that would have sent the game into overtime. “They made more plays than we did tonight. Congratulations to Mark Ellis (Westborough head coach) and his team. We’ll recover and go back to work tomorrow morning.”